Concrete railroad tie



March 22, 1927' H |PHAM CONCRETE RAILRYJAD TIE Filed June 10, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 waqzflzjhm March 22, 1927. 1,622,259

H. J. LIPHAM CONCRETE RAILROAD TIE Filed June 10, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 22, 1927.

HARVEY J. LIrnA or cnnannnr, PENNSYLVAN A- v cononn'rn RAILROAD TIE.

Application filed June 10,

My invention rel-ates to new and useful improvements in. a concrete railway tie, and has for its object to so construct such a tie that it will consist of three elements; viz, two. support blocks and a reach bar, the blocks being readily attached to or detached from the bar to. facilitate thev construction, transportation and installation.

A turthei' object of my invention is to produce composite support blocks for the tie, which. blocks shall consist of a supportr beam, reenzforcement rods, supporting rods coacting with the supporting beam, re.- enforcement rods uponwhich the supporting rods are seated, an enclosure of stranded cables surrounding the support rods, all being embedded in plastic material, such as concrete or cement; thus.- providing an effective indestructible support for the railway rails. a A still further object of my invention is to provide an efi ective means for the securement. of railway rails upon the support blocks.

'W ith these and other ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically defined by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to. which this invention appertains, may understand how to make and use the same, I willdescr-ibe its: construction in detail, re: ferring by numerals to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisapplication, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a tie: made in accordance with my improvement showing" the rails secured thereon.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of Fig. 1, showing several of the ties.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of one of the supporting blocks forming a part of my improved tie.

Fig. 4: is a side elevation of Fig. 3, the concrete being in section, and the railway rails shown secured upon the supporting block.

Fig. 5 is an end View of Fig. 4, the concrete also being in section, the rail and its fastenings being omitted.

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. 5, showing the addition of an envelope of expanded metal, such as used in metal lath.

In carrying out my invention as herein embodied, each of the supporting blocks 10 in construction consists of a supporting 1926. Serial No. 114,926.

beam, 11-, here shown as what is known as an H-beam, or it may be of any other suitable shape, such as an. I-beam ora T'-bea-m, and tothe underside. of the head of this beam are Welded, riveted, bolted, clamped or otherwise fastened the upper ends ot a series. of supporting rods 12, said rods extending downward: in the general shape ot a U,and crosswise beneath the base of the beam and being'welded' to said base.

13 represents a series of stranded cables or the continuation of a single. cable, surrounding the supporting rods, in such manner as to term a cage or enclosure for cement.

1 4: represents a series of reenforcement rods upon which the supporting rods: are

weight and vibration-incident to: the travel of trains thereon, when said: block is properly set in the road bed, and also preventing the oxidizing or corrosion of the metal parts.

Prior to. embedding the metal structure of the. support blockin cement, a clip. 1;6, pref- .erably in the form of an angle, ron, l-S se-' cured by rivets, bolts or welding to'the. Web of the support beam in such manner that after the metal structure is embedded in: the

cement, a portion 01: this chip will extendlbeyonot one-end of the" completed bloek-', as

clearly shown. The extending ends of these chps are adapted to receive thev ends ofithe reach bars 17, which latter are also preferably in the form of angle irons which may be set over the clips or beneath the same, and securely held in place by the bolts 18 and 19, and when .two of the support blocks are coupled together by one of these reach bars, a completed tie is produced which for thepurpose of transportation or installation may be disassembled by uncoupling the blocks from the reach rod and reassembled by again coupling the three elements together In making provision for the proper securement of the railway rails 20 upon the ties, threaded holes are formed through the head of the supporting beams and nuts 21 embedded in the cement so as to coincide with these threaded holes whereby the bolts 22 may not only be threaded into and through said holes, but also be threaded into said nuts, and in practice, these nuts may be made of material of much higher tensile strength than the support beams, thus increasing the hold of the bolts to the beam. These bolts pass through suitable holes in the clamp blocks 23, said blocks being of such shape that they readily fit over the flanges of the rails 20, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, so that by jamming these bolts home, the rails will be firmly held against sidewise movement incident to the thrust of the car wheels traveling over the rails.

I have shown the completed blocks in the general shape of the frustum of a pyramid, but they may be of any suitable shape, the principal object being to secure a wide bottom surfacefor sustaining the weight to which the blocks are subjected while holding them against sidewise or upward movements.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a slight modification of my invention, in which a casing or envelope 24, preferably of expanded metal, Similar to that used for metal lathing surrounds the stranded cables 13, in order that when the frame work of the supporting block is embedded in its cement, that portion of the cement which passes through the casing will be housed therein, and thus further reduce the tendency to shatter or fracture such concrete, when the block is subjected to severe pounding.

Suitable holes 25 are formed in the clip 16 for the passage of the cables 13 through said cli 8f course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein shown as these may be varied within the limits of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

' Having thus fully described my invention,

' what I claim as new and usefulis:

1. A railway tie comprising two composite support blocks and a reach rod for spacing said blocks apart and securing them together, each of said composite blocks consisting of a supporting beam, a series of supporting rods, the ends of which latter are secured to the head of said beam, said rods extending beneath thebase of said beam,

cables surrounding the supporting rods, reeniorcing rods upon which the lower portion of the supporting rods are seated, all of said parts being embedded in a suitable plastic material; and a clip secured to the web of the supporting beam and projecting beyond the plastic material for attachment to the reach rod.

2. A compositeblock for railway ties comprising a supporting beam; supporting rods the ends of which are secured to the head of said beanuthe lower portion of said rods extending beneath the base of said beam; an openwork enclosure surrounding the supporting rods; reenforcenient rods positioned beneath the supporting rods; a block of ce- "ment embedding said structure; and a clip secured to the web of the supporting beam and projecting beyond the cement block for coupling the block to a companion block for the formation of a tie. j

- 3. A composite block for railwayties comprising a supporting beam; supporting rods the ends of which are secured to the head of said beam, the lower portion of said rods extending beneath the base of said beam; an openwork enclosure surrounding the supporting rods; reenforcement rods positioned beneath the supporting rods; a block of'cement embedding said structure; a clip. se-

cured to the web of the supporting beamand projecting beyond the cement block for coupling the block to a companion block for the formation of a tie; threaded holes formed through the head of the supporting beam;

nuts embedded in the cement block coincid ing with said threaded holes; two clamp blockspositioned upon the head of the beam; and bolts passing through holes in said block and threaded into said threadedholes and H nuts. a

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed myisignature. i i

HARVEY J. LIPI-IAM. 1 

